How to stream your church service to YouTube

Streaming · platforms

YouTube is the most reliable free place to stream — great discovery, unlimited viewers, and automatic archiving of past services. Here's how to connect your setup and go live.

First-time note: YouTube requires you to enable live streaming on your channel, and it can take up to 24 hours to activate. Do this at least a day before your first stream.

1. Enable live streaming on your channel

Verify your YouTube account (phone number), then turn on live streaming in YouTube Studio. Wait for it to activate before your first broadcast.

2. Create your live event

In YouTube Studio, choose Go Live → Streaming software (not the built-in webcam option). Set a title, description, thumbnail and visibility. You can schedule it ahead of time so people can set a reminder.

3. Connect your encoder with the stream key

YouTube gives you a Stream URL and a Stream key. In OBS (or vMix), go to Settings → Stream, pick YouTube or Custom, and paste the key. Keep the key private — anyone with it can stream to your channel.

4. Set sensible quality

Resolution — 1080p or 720p; 720p is easier on slower connections.
Bitrate — around 4,500–6,000 kbps for 1080p, ~2,500–4,000 for 720p.
Framerate — 30 fps is plenty for a service.
Confirm your upload speed comfortably exceeds your bitrate.

5. Go live and monitor

Start streaming in your encoder; YouTube shows the incoming feed. When it looks and sounds right, click Go Live. Keep the dashboard open to watch stream health, and end the broadcast cleanly when the service is over — YouTube saves it automatically as a video.

Add scripture on screen automatically

Because your encoder is already handling the video, adding on-screen verses is easy: TajiCast detects the preached verse from your audio and sends a lower-third into OBS or vMix, which YouTube then broadcasts — no extra operator needed.

Put the verse on your YouTube stream — automatically, free.

Download TajiCast — free